NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Star Finder Software
From: Dave Weilacher
Date: 2002 Feb 4, 17:23 -0500
From: Dave Weilacher
Date: 2002 Feb 4, 17:23 -0500
SkyPlot is a DOS program. It has old style menues. You enter values on a setup screen, then go to a separate plot screen, then run a step that builds a "PRN" file, then display/print this file with wordpad or some such. I really like it. The print file lists the HC and Zn of all 57 nav stars plus sun, moon, and 4 planets (if visible). It has a disclaimer that the planet, moon data may be off by more than a mile. So what! It will also display/print an image that shows you what stars, etc you would see for the date, time, DR, you entered. A really agravating, nit picky little thing that bothers me every time I use it is that you enter lat/lon in degrees and decimals even though it gives you back degrees and minutes. I've tested it fairly thoroughly because I use it to set up plots for a celest nav class. Our plotting has yet to discover any serious error on the part of the program. (By serious, I mean a discrepency large enough that it wasn't accounted for by our inability to draw straight lines, measure distances, or do simple arithmetic) Original Message: ----------------- From: Chuck Griffiths griffiths_chuck@SI.COM Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 16:58:53 -0500 To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM Subject: [NAV-L] Star Finder Software I'm wondering if anyone knows of a good freeware option for predicting star, planet, moon and sun altitudes and azimuths in the 2102D style. I know Celestair sells software called SkyPlot for PC and I'd be interested to hear reviews even though it's not free. I recently found an online program at www.weatherunderground, the link is:http://www.wunderground.com/sky/index.asp. It's a very nice program but the input for location is zip code rather than lat-long so it's not much use for passage planning and the plots don't print out very well. Chuck Griffiths ********************************************************************** This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and may be legally privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. This e-mail and its files are intended solely for the individual or entity to whom they are addressed and their content is the property of Smiths Aerospace. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not read, copy, use or disclose this communication. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the e-mail administrator at postmaster@si.com and then delete this e-mail, its files and any copies. This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been scanned for the presence of known computer viruses. *********************************************************************** -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .